1. Preparation of cuttings
The beet is cut into strips in the form of strips with a sugar content of between 16 and 20 percent.
2. Obtaining juice
Sugar is leached from the cuttings using hot water (approx. 70 degrees Celsius) in a countercurrent process - the cuttings are transported against the water stream from bottom to top - (extraction). Raw juice is produced. It contains approximately 98 percent of the sugar contained in beets as well as organic and inorganic substances (so-called "non-sugar substances") from beets.
3. Clean the juice
The non-sugar substances found in the raw juice are bound and precipitated by the addition of the natural substances of lime milk and carbon dioxide, which are produced in the lime plant itself.
4. Filtration
The precipitated insoluble non-sugar substances and lime are filtered off in filtration devices. The filtrate is called pure juice, the residue on the filter is saturating sludge. This is a valuable fertilizer used to fertilize the soil.
5. Concentration of juice
The light juice is concentrated in a multi-stage evaporation process. This produces heavy juice. The production of sugar requires a large amount of energy, which is covered by the operation of its own power plant. Steam produced in high-pressure boilers is used to produce its own electricity in turbogenerators. Waste steam from turbines is used as process steam (cogeneration) to heat the evaporator.
6. Crystallization
The heavy juice is further concentrated in cooking machines under vacuum. Crystallization is initiated by the addition ("seeding") of finely ground sugar. Upon further concentration, the crystals grow to the desired grain size.
7. Centrifugation
The sugar crystals are separated from the syrup by centrifugation. The separated syrup is subjected to a further two stages of crystallization.
8. Sugar
The crystal-clear sugar thus obtained appears white when light is scattered in the crystals. White sugar has a sucrose content of at least 99.7 percent. The rest is de facto moisture.
9. Sugar drying
The white sugar is dried with a stream of air, cooled and stored in silos. In various forms, in packaging for households or industry, it embarks on a journey to the consumer as an important food and delicacy.
10. Molasses
The centrifuged syrup that is formed in the last stage of crystallization is called molasses. Molasses contains sugar that can no longer crystallize (6 to 9 percent beet sugar) and soluble non-sugar substances from beets. Molasses is a quality raw material for the yeast and feed industries, as well as for the production of alcohol.
11. Cuttings
After leaching in a diffuser, mechanical pressing and the addition of molasses, the cuttings are dried in drying drums, then pelleted (pressed) and sold as feed.
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